Friday, December 31, 2010

Yesterday, Chapel Hill was in mourning after Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski passed Dean Smith in total wins.

The gloom didn’t last long, as North Carolina’s kicker Casey Barth gave the Tar Heel faithful reason to take the party back out into Franklin Street after making two key field goals during UNC’s double overtime win in the Music City Bowl.

Barth is the brother of former UNC kicker Connor Barth who now kicks for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The older Barth holds the record for most field goals made – 54, and consecutive kicks made – 19.

The younger Barth, a junior, is closing in on some records of his own. He was a 2010 Groza Award Candidate and 2009 Second-Team All-ACC. Barth tied the single-season school record with 21 field goals in 2009.

For now, he’s a hero who made two big kicks in the most exciting and entertaining bowl game of the season.

“This is what we work for all the time, this moment,” Barth said. “I’m so happy we could do this for our seniors. There was more pressure on the (tying) kick than the (game-winner) in overtime because I wasn’t sure what was going on. But I knew I had them both. It was just a matter of kicking them straight.”

WHERE IN THE WORLD...?

The way it is...

The way it was...

TAH DAMN GOOD CAUSE OF THE MONTH

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